PlayStation Vita gamers have had a fun week – first the promised 1.65 update (which was set to adjust the sleep timer, among other things) was scheduled for April 3rd. No sooner had it arrived on the PlayStation Network than it was swiftly removed, due to a “technical fault”.

Rather than merely fixing the issue, Sony decided to make the best use of its extra time, adding in a few extra bits and pieces and releasing update v1.66 just a few hours later.

So – what’s involved? Set up your Vita to download the update either via its built in wi-fi or 3G connection, or hook it up to a PC or PS3 to grab the goodies, and read on.

PlayStation Vita: Firmware Update Required

The new changelog includes the following:

You can now disable the notification alert messages that indicate when friends sign in, messages are received and other activities. To disable these alerts, got to [Settings] > [Sound & Display] > check/uncheck [Notification Alerts]. Additionally, Notification alerts will now display for five seconds instead of three seconds

‘After 10 Minutes’ has been added as an option in [Power Save Settings] > [Auto Standby]

An arrow will indicate when new activities are available in LiveArea

Caps Lock is now supported by the on-screen keyboard. Simply double-tap the Shift key to enable it

Apparently, the “technical issues” with the original patch saw some dramas for ad-hoc play for PSP titles – not quite a console-breaking bug, but something that would have caused a certain annoyance for retro Vita gamers.